Recent revisions in Federal law require owners of public facilities, such as retail establishments, install or upgrade existing lighting control systems to provide visual warning signals in the event of an emergency condition. Such visual warning signals are for the benefit of those who are hearing handicapped.
One known signaling system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,509 to Beggs. The Beggs device provides both audible and visual signaling of emergency conditions. The audible signaling component of the system comprises a well-known audible fire alarm. The visual signaling component comprises a sensor for sensing the application of a signal to the audible warning device, and a circuit that activates a signaling lamp in response to electrical sensing of the audible warning signal.
Other known signaling/alarm/warning systems are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat Nos. 2,213,100 to Cianchi; 2,313,560 to Levine; 3,054,994 to Haram; 3,810,170 to Zinsmeister; 4,276,542 to Russ; 4,365,238 to Kollin; and 4,642,477 to Grzanowski, Jr. et al.
A light warning system that is easily integrated into an existing lighting system and which takes advantage of the existing lighting hardware to provide a visual warning signal is needed to modify previously installed electrical systems to comply with recently enacted laws relating to visual fire warning systems. A more economical and fully configurable light warning system or controller is needed that must be compatible with various existing fire/smoke sensing systems and provide an interface to control several types of lighting systems.